AN EDUCATION chief has urged Cheshire County Council to transfer &#xA3;1m from balances to help schools in 'financial diff iculties'.

The county's Liberal Democrat education spokesman, Derek Bould, placed a motion before the full council yesterday, claiming that successive reductions in schools budgets - &#xA3;3m over two years - have reduced their capacity to maintain acceptable education standards.

His motion stated: 'Members have already received messages from concerned headteachers describing the serious affects of under-funding, which range from drastically slashing the nonteaching expenditure to actual teaching staff redundancies'.

His comments follow the concerns of Chester MP Christine Russell, who claimed last week that &#xA3;1m due to schools is being retained by the county council.

She told a House of Commons debate on public services that the Tory-controlled County Hall was given an unprecedented increase in its grant of almost 8%.

'However, it required a concerted campaign by teachers and parents to persuade that Conservative administration to passport all the additional resources to Cheshire schools,' she said.

Their comments also come just a month after The Chronicle revealed that Cheshire teachers face widespread job losses following a &#xA3;1m shortfall in the education budget.

Schools say they have been left high and dry by the removal of cash from the county's &#xA3;300m education funds to compensate for losses in its social services budget.

Bosses at County Hall decided against further increasing this year's Council Tax to compensate for the 0.5% loss - about &#xA3;1m.

Secondary and primary schools across Cheshire now face the threat of losing administration staff, caretakers, temporary teachers, books and computers.

Cllr Bould (Alsager) said: 'The Government has admitted that its mistakes in changes to the funding formula and increased f inancial pressures arising from teachers' pensions and National Insurance have led to a difficult year for schools.

'But I believe that the cumulative effect of two years of top-slicing by Cheshire's Tory administration has not helped a situation which is providing a major headache for so many of our schools.

'Consequently, I am asking the administration to recognise the difficulties that many of our schools are experiencing and also demonstrate Cheshire County Council's continued commitment to the highest educational standards.

'It will also ensure that pupils in our schools are protected from falling standards without the need to ask our Council Tax-payers to pay more.'

Labour education spokesman Peter Nurse says Cheshire lost funding for 150 teachers during the past two years. He warned the job losses could be even greater if County Hall delivers another low Council Tax rise next year.